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A Great Handheld Recorder To Help Violin Practice

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myguitarnow

Laguna Beach

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September 2, 2011 - 7:58 pm

Member Since: June 16, 2011

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I have a Tascam GT-R1 portable guitar/bass recorder and yesterday I was wondering how the violin would sound with it. SOUNDS BEAUTIFUL!

Before I explain what this thing can do the price is around $250. But has been well worth it for me with my guitar practice and jamming.

The unit is hand size so you can store it in your violin case. What's great about this Tascam recorder is you can connect it to your computer via USB and download and up load MP3s and Wav files (other types of audio files have worked for me too). Download violin songs that you're working on and you can play along to the audio files. It also has a built in drum machine, guitar effects (great for e-fiddles;-) You can slow down audio files to whatever tempo you want without affecting the pitch of the song, has a line in for MP3, CD or whatever sound source. Has a 1/4 inch input jack for e-fiddles and violin pickups. And it has some great built in mics plus a mic input jack to use your favorite recording mic if you have an acoustic violin with no pickup. I'll post a link if you want to read up on the Tascam GT-R1. I think it is going to be a great tool for me to help in my violin learning process.

http://tascam.com/product/gt-r1/

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September 2, 2011 - 8:46 pm

Well, that sounds great but that is kinda steep for my budget and purposes.
However, you did give me some inspiration and today I researched and bought a $60 model, the Olympus VN 8100 PC.
At first it sounded like a Radio Shack walkie talkie but all was much better with a dynamic mike and decent speakers. It does MP3 and WMA and is USB compatible. I am amazed at the functions this unit has. I have only worked about 3 pages into the 16 pages of instruction. They do have a larger screen font configuration but I just don't like LCD no how.

After an afternoon of messing around I can say I'm very happy. The practical matter is I will now be able to pack away most of my discrete electronics and far too many cables (types). I had quite a mess of wires.

If this gizmo improves my playing without serious practice, I'll take it.

(One serious rising violinist said "I don't practice very much. I'm not famous yet!)

coffee2

myguitarnow

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September 2, 2011 - 9:28 pm

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Yep, there is a ton of electronic tools nowadays for sure to help us learn and grow as musicians.

Hey Barry, if I remember right you posted that you are 47yo on another thread and I posted on another thread that I'm also 47yo. I had that Tascam 4 track tape recorder too. It was awesome. Could you imagine if we had all the computer and digital gear back then? I don't know if it would of been a good thing or bad thing. Nowadays it takes a year just to figure out recording software then there's another update to learn. Back then I think we had our instruments in our hand a lot more and wore out: pause, fast forward and rewind. And a few too many scratches on our favorite albums from being played over n over again ;-)